Light-duty portable grading apparatus.



A. F. KUESTER. LlGHT DUTY PORTABLE GRADING APPARATUS,

APPLICATION FILED MAY @1919.

1,3 1 6,046. Patented Sept. 16, 1919 I 4 sHEETs-sH'EET I.

a o x Q y WITNESSES:

' ATTORNEY;

I "A. F. KUESTEB." LIGHT DUTY PORTABLE GRADINGAPPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 5) 1919. 31,316,046. PatentedSept. 16,1919.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Mym l ATTORNEY A F. KUESTER. LIGH T DUTY PORTABLE GRADING APPARATUS.APPLICATlON .FILED MAY 5, 1919. 1,316,046 PatentedSept. 16,1919.

4 SHEETSSHEET 3.

INVENTOR ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUGUST 1?. KUESTER, OF CLINTONVILLE, WISCONSIN.

LiGHT-DUTY PORTABLE smmne APPARATUS.

5 and State of lVisconsin, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Light- Duty Portable Grading Apparatus; and I do herebydeclare that thefollowingis a full, clear,- and exact descriptionthereof The primary object of my invention is to provide a simple,economical and durable light duty power driven gradin apparatus,

its construction and arrangement beuw such.

. that it can be handled by unskilled la or at a minimum expense, Whileat thesame time it is sufficiently elastic and ad ustable to meet allexcavating problems of a limited i capacity ordinarily encountered,

I am aware that apparatusof this general type can be obtained upon themarket, but the first cost of this apparatus 15 prohibited so far as thesmall contractor or user might be interested, and outslde of the firstcost of the equipment, the cost of installaclude it from use. Hence thefield of the apparatus mentioned is limited, bearing in mind thatitrequires a corps of engineers to operate the device, besides a number ofunskilled laborers.

The object of my invention is to produce a substantial apparatus ofthistype which can be readily transported and set up on a job within a shorttime and with little expense bearing in mind that the equipment must besold at a reasonable figure. The essential elements of my apparatus canbe purchased in open market, as the major portions of said apparatus areof standard type,

turesof said'apparatus may be varied in accordance with the knowledgeand skill of the mechanic.

The apparatus" as shown and herein described by me has been in practicaloperation and has demonstrated to the satisfaction of contractors thatit fills the market demand, being within a reasonable cost and its mechanism being such that it can be readily set up n on a job and operated byunskilled labor,

previouslyv demwhereby varied independently without resetting thetion ona small job would be such as to pre-' but it is understood that thestructural fea v Specification of Letters Patent. v Patented Sept, 16,1919 Application filed May 5, 1919. Serial No. 294,900.

mounted upon a suitable truck at one end of the job and having boomsupported sheaves for the cable, which cable is otherwise guided byaground system of sheaves only, whereby friction is reduced through- Toprovide a pair of working stretches of ,cable trained over thesupportedsheaves and connected to independent drums in con unct1on with a returnloop cable the rear end of each scraper;

To provide bed plates for the support of horizontally operated groundsheaves at the receiving end of the job;

To provide means for adjusting the line of travel of the cables from theground sheaves to the boom supported sheaves, the cut of each scrapercan be general cable system;

connected to To provide a simple means for selectively applying manpower or motive power to the scrapers whereby they may be dumped whendesired; To provide means for vertically supportmg the return loop cablewhen the latter is arranged to travel down abrupt inclines;

To provide means for anchoring the main truck and its supporting boomwhereby the balance of load is maintained;

To provide means for adjusting the boom I supported sheaves atindependent angles, to position them with the line of draft, wherebyfriction is reduced to a minimum and bunching of the cable upon the drumJ'seliminate 'Withthese and other objects in view, which will beapparent as the description proceeds, my invention resides in the novelfeatures of construction, combination and arrangement of parts ashereinafter described and defined by the appended claims, ltbeingunderstood that changes in the preclse embodiment might be made by thoseskilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings: a 3 Figure 1 represents an enlarged detailside elevation of a truck, embodying certain features of my invention,particularly boom car= rying ta'ble sugpension sheaves.

Fig. 2 is a etailed end elevation of the upper portion of the truck boom"showing the arrangement for adjusting the sheave.

"Fig. 3 1s an enlarged detailed elevation of a scrape'r qtxbpdymg thfnreatures, of my invention, with parts bronten away and in secgrade takenat points indicated by the lines (1,11, 1), I) and c, c of Fig. 6.

'lt'efcrrin" b characters to the drawin s e .V a

- 1 represents a portable truck provided with the usual frame, uponwhich is mounted an engine or motor 2. that is connected by gears in anysuitable manner to a pair ofcable winding drums 3, 3", the frame of thetruck has mounted thereon at one end a boom which boom is suitablysecured to the frame of the truck and is also provided with anadjustable leg 4- which is designed to be fitted to the ground, wherebythe tilting strains of the truck coincident to power being applied tothe system is overcome.

Adjacent the upper end of the boom 4 is secured a pair of notched crossbars 5 which bars are adapted to support hangers 7, 7 of i a pair ofcable supporting sheaves 8, 8'.

- ny referring to the diagrammatic view, Fig. 5, it will be seen thatunder certain conditions, the cable stretches will travel at an angle toits respective drum, and in order to prevent; bunching of the cable uponits winding drum, the sheaves may be adjusted transversely into any oneof the notches of the bars 5', so as to compensate,

toil certain degree, for the angularity of the cable. As, for example inFig. 5, the sheave 8 is shifted to its extreme position at one side ofthe boom, due to the fact that its cable, as shown in. the diagram, isdrawing ata comparatively greater angle than the companion cable. I

(onnected to the drum 3, is one end of a working cabled), the si mebeing trained over the-supporting sheaye 8 and from thence it isdirectly connected to the front end ot'a suitable scraper A. A similarworking cable 9 has one end connected to the drum .3 and is trained overthe supporting sheave 8, being connected to the front end of a secondscraper B. 1

A return cable loop 10 has one end con-- 1 ne -ted to the rear portionof the scraper B [and its. other end correspondingly connected v to therear portion of the scraper A. This cable is traiped over a palrofground sheaves 12" that are 11, 1-1 which are mounted upon plates 12,anchored to the ground beyond the operat ve field of the scrapers, atthe recontrolled by the ground shea vcs.

ceiving end or me ob. The area of the grading job isindicated by thedotand dash lines at, :v, w, m", the lines a7,-m" showing the delivery andreceiving ends of the job respectively, while the lines ayw indicate thewidth of the job.

In order to provide a simple means f0r anchoring the-ground sheaves,which oper ate horizontally, I provide bed plates 12, as best shown inFig. 4, whichplates have a series of apertures 13. The apertures areadapted to receive stakes 13 that are driven into the ground, as)lainly' indicated in Fig. 3. In setting up or a grading job,.afterthese plates have once been anchored, it is not ordinarily necessary toshift the ground sheaves-which would necessitate more or lesscomplications and loss of time, and to overcome this shifting of theground sheaves at frequent intervals, I provide adjustable floatingguide pulleys 14 as indicated in the diagram and best shown in detail inFig. 3 of the drawings. These guide pulleys are of comparatively lightconstruction and they embody as shown, ordinary block and tackleconstruction embodying outer and inner pulleys 15, 15' respectively,which pulleys have trained thereover an adjustable line 16 which may beadjusted to vary the length of the device as a whole, it beingunderstood that the inner block 15 is secured in any suitable manner toan anchor stake l7, and I I these anchor stakes can be selectivelyplaced as desired, between the ground sheaves 1 1, 11 and the workingfield of the job, which is indicated by the dotted line as". vions thatany suitable adjustable pulley construction maybe used as a substitutefor the block and tackle just described, the es j sential feature beingthe guide pulley .14, and some means for anchoring and adjust- It isobing it with relation to its anchor, whereby the longitudinal stretchesof the cable'loop 10 can be shifted from their angle points I Byshifting these cable stretches 10, 1O horizontally,

it will be manifest that the line of draft of the scrapers can beselectively changed-as the work progresses. so as to avoid frequentchanges in the position of the niain truck and ground sheaves of thejob.

Referring now moreparticularly tofFi g. 3, it will be observed that oneof the ground pulleys 14 is shown in detail and in its po-' sition itcan be utilized not only to deflect the cable 10 horizontally, but it isutilized also for the purpose of effecting a clearance. of this cablestretch at a high point ground. at which point the cable. due to theweight of the scraper and its load. will deflect downwardly. this,ground at tliercceiviugfi-cnd of the job being in proportion to thedepth of the excavation.

As best shown in Figs. and 1. the -reof the :lncline of Y the. 7 w

' dial scraping position after dumping,

ciprocative scraper units embody a standard scoop an 18 having suitablebraces and a but-"in; sand or soft soil,"-.;these teeth maybe dispensedwith. v The working stretch of cable '9 is connected to theffrontportion of the scraper by suitable bail 20, the arms 21 of which,arepivotallyunited with' the sides off the scoop by means of loops 21,which loops are located comparatively close to the bottom of the; panand a: second pair of loops 22 are located above the same to form aconnection for a return bail 23, which bail is similar in constructionto the front bail previously mentioned Iniorder to. .rovide a power-dumpfor the $0.;

scraper, in add tion to the hand dump bar 19, I have shown a dumpingcoupling 24 which a short stretch of chain, having oneend tothe upperportion of the rear walloffthe scoop, its opposite end being providedwith a hook 24'. When this "coupling is ,not m use, it may rest looselyinthe panfandlwhen it is desired to dump by power,--the workingstretches of the cable .9 is slackened from the drum 3', and the 89'dumping coupling as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3 is connected to aring 25 by means of the hook24. When pull power is impartedto the cable9, it will be apparent that the load'strain will be transferred from thepulling bail20 to the upper central portion of. the pan back wall. Hencethis change of levers will cause the load to automatically dump, whilethecutting teeth 18 will act as a fulcrum point upon which the pan willrock forward. vTo return the pan to its nirimparting a reverse pull uponthe scraper through the return cable loop 10, working stretches 9 andpower driven drum 3", it will be seen that the scraper will respondquickly and return to its normalposition.

' This reverse vaction of the scraper is assured,

due to the leverage between the points of connection of the bails 20 and23 with the sides of the pan as previously mentioned.

From the foregoing description it will be manifest that with thisapparatus, it will only require one man upon the main-truck formanipulating the drums 3 and 3 and one man in the field for controllingthe moment of dump of thescrapers. It Wlll be observed that the workingstretches 9 and .Qof the cable system will pull directly from theloadover the suspension sheaves which are carried by the boom truck thusall drag of the working cables 1s elimi- Hated, when the scrapers areoperating under load conditions, whereby wear and friction are reducedtoa minimum. This reduction l offriction is iurthertakcn care of byreason of the fact that the cables when operating under load conditionsor otherwise, will pull approximately in alinement with the main trucksupporting sheaves and the permanently anchored ground sheaves, wherebyall unnecessary angles are avoided and the power of the motor isutilized as direct as possible. This condition being also truewhen thereturn loop 10 of the cable system is deflected from its permanent guardpoint about either one of the ground sheaves, 11 and 11. 1

While I have-shown the return loop 10 of the cable system in dottedlines, deflected inwardly 'from its full line position, it is apparentthat the floating guide pulleys 'may be staked upon the Jpposite oroutbest shown in the diagrammatic view.

removed to a depth as indicated by thesdotted lines 3 and with this inviewtheascrapers are manipulated to pull the desired number of cubicfeet of this soil down to the point indicated at a, a, which is a lowpoint,

whereby the-removed soil can be uiilized to bring-the low point up tothe grade lines y;

Obviously it will be seen that by adjust-' ing the guide pulleys 14, anyrade can be completed by displacement of t e soil from a selected lineof draft toward the power truck, and when one longitudinal portion. ofthe job is completed, the truck may be moved, for example, tov a centralposition,

with reference to the width of said job,*and after the scrapers aremanipulated at this position to their limit of economy, thetruckisinoved to the dotted position indicated at a in Fig. 5, and theoperation of grading is then repeated, bearing in mind that the guidepulleys 14 are the only elements which are moved constantly to adjustsame to vary the cut.

I am also aware of the tact that various grading apparatus have beenused wherein the cables are suspended in the form of a trolley system,but this type of apparatus is expensive and requires a large volume ofwork for installation, as well as requiring which can be readilyadjusted to cover all the conditions of small grading jobs, and with thesystem as I have described, this result is obtained.

What is claimed is: u

'1. In a light duty grading apparatus, a

I job and toy be intermittently shifted transversely as the workprogresses, the truck being p'rovulral with motor driven cable systems,a boom, and a pair of suspension cable sheaves carried by the boom; thecombination of a rcciprocated working stretch of cable carried by eachdrum and trained over one of the suspension sheaves, a pair ofreciprocated pull scrapers each having its front portion connected tothe end of each working stretch of cable, a return cable loop having itsends connected to the rear portion of each scraper, ground horizontallydisposed sheaves adapted to be anchored at the receiving end of thegradingjob and spaced transversely thereof over which the return cableloop is trained inter mediate of its ends, and adjustable guide pulleysfor the return cable loops located between the ground sheaves andreciprocated scrapers for varying the line of travel oft-the workingstretch of the cable system relative to the ground sheaves and boomcarrying supporting sheaves.

2. In alight duty grading apparatus, a

portable motor carrying truck adapted to be I being provided with motordriven cable system, .a boom, and a pair of suspension cable sheavescarriedby the boom; the combination of a re'ciprocated working stretchof cable carried by each drum and trained over one ofthe suspensionsheaves, a'pair of reciprocated pull scrapers each having its frontportion connected to the end of each working stretch of cable, a returncable loop having its ends connected to the rear portion of eachscraper, bed plates adapted to be anchored to the groundat the receivingend of the grading job, horizontally disposed ground sheaves mountedthereon over Which the return cable loop is trained intermediate of itsends, and adjustable guide pulleys for the return cable loops.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereuntoset my hand atMilwaukee,

in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin.

AUGUST rv KUESTER.

